


~promise~

by xenobia4



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, JYJ (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 14:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15909678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenobia4/pseuds/xenobia4
Summary: Trying to de-stress from the ordeal with SM, Jaejoong treats Changmin to lunch. But while they're coming back, something goes horribly wrong.





	~promise~

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this back in 2009 when JYJ began their huge legal battle with SME.

**~promise~**

“Yeah. We’re at the station, now. We’ll be back in twenty. All right. Bye.”

Changmin closed his cellphone and sighed, shaking his head before looking around the subway station for Jaejoong who walked over to the platform. Since Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu had a meeting later on with the heads of SM Entertainment (again), the oldest decided that he and Changmin go out and get something to eat before going back to Korea. The plane was leaving later that afternoon, but they had to be at the airport by three. Changmin could not help but glance up at the clock that hung over the ticket booths near the entrance to the station and see that it was nearly eleven thirty. He pulled down the front of his toboggan to cover more of his forehead as he made his way over.

So far the two had been lucky to be unrecognized by the public – it was amazing what the right clothes and just a simple pair of sunglasses could do to hide one’s appearance. He came up next to the oldest member who made a sideways look at him as he turned to pop his neck, sighing and heaving his shoulders as he did. Changmin formed a toothless smile. They were even careful of how they would smile or laugh, in case people recognized the only part of their faces that could be seen.

They both peered down the subway tunnel along with several others when the train was heard down the tracks. It was strange, but seeming as none of them had been to any of the stations at or around the current time, they were both somewhat surprised at the lack of people. Sure, it was still moderately crowded for being a Japanese subway station, but not nearly what everyone was used to. When the train finally pulled up, people flooded out and it was somewhat shocking when the two Dong Bang Shin Ki members did not have to fight and push their way into the car; those that had gotten off either headed for the exits or met up with other people that had been surrounding the station. The car they had gotten into was lacking a large crowd and there was actually room for them to shift and move around without being bumped into or groped. They even saw women on the car – not people that would normally be seen with the crowded trains. Oddly enough, the train doors closed and groaned as it started move with the limited amount.

Changmin held onto one of the dangling handles as Jaejoong decided to sit down on an open bench in front of him. He crossed his right leg over his left and folded his arms, staring up at Changmin through his tinted sunglasses. He gave a tired smile through a half-yawn before looking around the train car. Seeing few people (two females that looking to be in their early twenties and five men that ranged from their twenties to forties), he grabbed his glasses and took them off, folding them together and attaching them onto the front of his shirt. The youngest was quick to do the same, mainly because of the dim lighting making it difficult to see through the tinted lenses. He put his in his jacket pocket instead. No one even seemed to notice. The two women were busy with a newspaper and chatting in hurried Japanese about an article in particular – something about a missing child. A man that was sitting at the opposite end of the car as the boys had out a newspaper as well and was shifting through it while two other men were talking to each other about a company. The other two were sitting down – one was reading a book and the other was playing with his cellphone.

Jaejoong pushed the sleeves up on his shirt and yawned fully, drawing back Changmin’s attention.

“It was fun. Thanks for going with me,” he said in native tongue, leaning back in the seat.

Changmin shrugged. “No, no. Thanks for dragging me along.” Jaejoong heaved his shoulders. “With all this going on, we don’t get to spend much time together anymore.” Jaejoong nodded and muttered a ‘yeah’ quietly and stared down at his lap.

The world could see the stress the group was facing, even though they all tried to hide it – it was becoming so much more difficult. What with the dealings between the lawsuit against the SM Entertainment company and still trying to stay active for the fans sake, it was weighing heavily on their shoulders and causing all of their health to drop. It was very visible in Jaejoong about the stress; everyone could tell he just looked tired and even his weight had been declining. His brother-in-law had even commented on how much thinner the eldest appeared when Jaejoong and Junsu went to Minkyung’s wedding. It was heart-breaking to see her brother’s health waning, but Minkyung had still been happy to see her brother make an appearance for her Special Day.

Jaejoong yawned again and rubbing his eyes. “I wouldn’t mind getting back and being able to take a nap.”

Changmin nodded. “How much sleep did you get last night?”

Jaejoong brought down his hand and shrugged as though he were trying to remember. “I don’t know. What? Three hours or so?” he said as he looked up at the other member. Changmin furrowed his eyebrows upwards, giving a sympathetic look. Jaejoong shook his head and waved his hand. “It’s no big deal…had I not have been woken up this morning,” he said with a forced playful laugh.

Changmin acted to laugh as well, not wanting to make Jaejoong feel uncomfortable.

Another issue that Jaejoong was having that the other two members (Junsu and Yoochun) were not was the constant fighting and bickering back and forth with their leader, Yunho. The other three were nearly clueless as to why Yunho and Jaejoong had been arguing so much more lately; they did not see a reason why they were fighting. Sure, the tension between them had started during an interview over the summer when Yunho had touched a girl’s bum, but it had slowly progressed from there. Jaejoong tried to play it off like nothing like he always did, but that was when everyone noticed the two members had begun to distance themselves from each other. Their playful posture and attitudes towards each other dispersed and they had started fighting more and more. Since it had escalated in recent months, Jaejoong had begun eating less and less – that could also be contributed to the rest of the stress, but having issues between their leader was not helping the matters any.

At one point, Junsu had tried to talk to Yunho about what was going on with Jaejoong, but Yunho had pretty much told him off, saying that their argument was between “him and Jaejoong” and for everyone else to “back off”.

Changmin only shook his head at the thought. He understood that Yunho became very defensive and reclusive when he was stressed, but he did not need to take it out on the other member. They all had enough to deal with it, let alone fighting amongst themselves.

“How long are we on this train?” Changmin asked, forgetting and trying to bring up a different point.

“Like…fifteen minutes. We’ll make it back, don’t worry.” Changmin nodded, but looked back to Jaejoong when the eldest laughed. “Always so concerned about every little thing. You’re like a kid.”

Changmin stuck out his tongue. They went silent for a moment and Changmin began looking around at the advertisements on the train. There was one for Kose make-up products right above where Jaejoong was sitting and next to it was one for Honda Zest and their new spokeswoman for it – Hamasaki Ayumi. Behind him was a sign for vacationing in Hawaii and next to that one was for the Japanese release of Star Trek. He suddenly groaned and lolled his neck. In a faked, whining voice, he said,

“Hyung…are we there, yet?” He looked at Jaejoong who could not help but laugh through his eyebrow raise. Changmin bounced on his heels and let go of the handle. “Hyung…I’m bored. Are we there? When are we going to get back?” Getting Jaejoong to continually laugh, he continued. “I’m hungry. Can we stop by and get some food? How much longer?” He liked seeing Jaejoong laugh and just have fun – it was a rare occasion, now that their laughs were real and not forced. “Can we go to the park? I wanna go to Nasu Highland Park. I haven’t been. Can we go?”

Jaejoong began nodding his head through his laughs. “Oh yeah! ‘Cause that’s right where we are,” he said sarcastically.

“I know!” Changmin suddenly lit up. “We should just say forget everyone and just go.” Jaejoong grinned and looked down, shaking his head. “I’m being serious!” he said excitedly. “We should. Just go and have fun. The Park would be practically empty at this time!”

Still grinning ear-to-ear, Jaejoong looked up at him. “Yeah, and we can ride the swings until we’re so dizzy from spinning we can’t stand straight for weeks!”

Changmin nodded furiously. “Exactly! It would be so much fun! And we could eat so much cotton candy that we puke.”

“Right after we’re done on the swings, right?!”

Changmin shook his head. “Right!”

Jaejoong uncrossed his legs and stretched them out. “Omo, that would be so nice, too.” He stared up at the top of the car. “And it could just be the two of us. And I could kick your butt at Go Karts.”

Changmin lightly kicked Jaejoong in the leg. “Who said you would win? I’m the youngest. You’re supposed to be nice and let me win.”

Jaejoong nearly choked on his saliva. “Since when?!”

“Since I said so.”

They continued to laugh about it and talk about just ditching out and leaving for the rest of the day. Finally, they calmed down and Jaejoong exhaled his final laugh.

“That would be so much fun, too.” He looked at Changmin and gave another tired smile. “I wish we could do that. Just me and you for the entire day. If only we could….”

The youngest seemed to think before he spoke again. “Let’s do it, then. After everything’s done and whatnot, the two of us can just take off for a full day and go to the park.”

Jaejoong nodded again. “Yeah…okay. Let’s plan on that one day, then. And the others can just do what they want that day.”

“It’s a promise, then, right?”

Jaejoong smiled. “Definite promise.”

Changmin nodded and they agreed to make those plans for one day in the future. The sad part was neither one of them knew how close nor how far away that day may be.

Suddenly, the train jerked, sending Changmin to fall into Jaejoong’s lap and everyone else on the car to lurch forward. On the outside, they could hear the train screeching on the tracks and sparks from the friction could be seen shooting up in the windows. The train jerked again sending everyone to the floor of the car; yells and screams filling it. When the train jerked again, the wheels detached themselves from the tracks and the train veered sideways. The beams of light from overhead began to flicker quickly on and off, flashing as the train slammed into the underground beams. Everyone in the train was screaming and trying to get some sense of stability. Jaejoong had managed to get to all fours before being slammed against the benches when the train flipped onto its side. Changmin tried to reach out to grab him, but ended up sliding down and hitting a standing pole with his shoulder – he felt a sharp pain shoot down his arm.

His first instinct was to grab his shoulder, but did not have time and ended up hitting the door to the car. He looked down the train to see the two girls – one was grabbing onto the bottom of the bench to keep from moving and was yelling for her friend whose face and upper body were slammed against the window. She kept screaming her friend’s name over and over again as the glass began to crack and she was trying to reach out to grab her, but was too far away. Changmin could only watch in horror along with her as the glass finally broke and the girl was jerked out of the window, blood splattering onto the side panels of the window. Her friend was screaming hysterically as Changmin’s eyes were wide before he tried to turn to get a visual on Jaejoong.

He barely caught of a glimpse of Jaejoong trying to keep a hold onto the seats before there was a loud crash and a beam came tearing through the train car; it ended up hitting one of the men and tearing them out of the car in the blink of an eye. As the train continued to skid on the ground, the car split open, exposing wires and causing the light beams to fall and create jagged debris. The electricity to the train was flickering on and off like strobe lights, making everything appear to be happening in slow motion.

Changmin heard Jaejoong calling for him, yelling and screaming his name, asking him where he was and if he was okay. He could barely respond; all he could get out was yelling Jaejoong’s name in response before another beam tore through the car, barely missing the young member as he was jerked forward and upwards, his head hitting the same pole that his shoulder had hit. The intensity was enough to knock him unconscious and all he could remember beforehand was the constant flashing of lights – almost all of the screaming had stopped.

* * *

The sound of snapping and creaking was what Changmin woke up to. He was not sure how long he was out and had even forgotten what had happened, mistaking it all for a dream. He groaned and rolled his head to the side, eyes still shut. He was still, so that had to be a plus, but he felt pain everywhere: His shoulder, his head and mainly, his leg. His other leg…wait a minute. He could not feel his other leg at all. Thinking his leg fell asleep, he squinted his eyes open, but they completely flew open when he saw two eyes staring back at him.

The other female was laying not even a foot away from him; her eyes were wide open and blank as blood covered the entire top of her head and face. Changmin released a yell and his instinct had him jerk and sit up; but when he tried, he felt the pain in his leg increase. He looked down to see the same pole that insisted on hitting him jammed through his upper right thigh, blood surrounding it. He looked back over to the girl, or what was left of her. His eyes went wide and he inhaled sharply when he realized that the only part of the female left was her upper body. He could not even get enough energy or vocal command to scream, but his eyes were stinging and he knew he had tears falling down his face. He looked around.

He was still in what rest of the train there was. A broken light fixture lay to his left on top of one of the men that had been talking about their company. Seeing the two bodies, he immediately began looking around for Jaejoong, but could not see him. When he tried to move his leg, but was introduced to nothing by pain, he called out for the other member.

“Hyung!” he cried out, looking around hastily. He did not receive a reply, so he called out again. “Jaejoong! Please, hyung! Answer me!” Still no response. Tears still falling down his face, he brought his attention back to the pole shoved into his leg. Realizing he was immobile unless he removed it, he gripped the pole and, clenching his jaw as hard as he could, began pulling it. He screamed as it slowly started to pull out and released a loud yell as he slipped it entirely out of his leg. He threw it off to the side and grabbed his leg as the pain shot through his leg and up to his side. Now gaining some sense of mobility, he looked around and began crawling away from the half of the female, still calling out for Jaejoong. He had tried gathering to his feet, but his left leg refused to work and he could not even move it – it was as though it was paralyzed. So he did the best he could and used his upper body to move himself around.

He jerked back when one of the light beams sparked near him, a small flame simmering on top of it. He growled and kept trying to press forward towards the ripped opening of the car that would lead out into the tunnel. But as he continued to make his way, he stopped short right near the exit, staring near the benches, his eyes wide in horror as his bottom lip shook. Ignoring the pain and the immobility of his left leg, he shifted to crawl on his hands and knees towards the benches.

What he came up on was Jaejoong – or rather, Jaejoong’s body. The oldest member’s eyes were staring blankly up, his mouth slightly open, his forehead bloody from hitting objects that had been in the way and one of the jagged light beam’s was through his chest. Still in shock, Changmin slowly reached out his hand to touch Jaejoong’s face, hoping to get some sort of reaction from him, but why was he expecting anything? When he touched the other’s face, he did not get a reaction at all, only a bigger shock to himself. His eyes burned and he bit his lip, shaking his head, staring at the other, eyebrows furrowed upwards.

He kept shaking his head. “No…. No – no – no – no – no – no....” His voice was shaking as he muttered it over and over. “Jae – Jaejoong, please,” he said quietly, voice strangely high as he inhaled sharply. He looked at the beam going through his friend’s body before going back to his blank stare. “What about Nasu, hyung?” He pressed their foreheads together. “We promised we were gonna go!” He inhaled sharply again, it coming out in broken cries. “Please don’t go, hyung! Please!!”

He did not even know how long he stayed there with Jaejoong, but he could feel himself drifting when he heard shouts from outside of the train car. They were muffled and he could not understand what they were saying, but he knew he heard people. He looked up when a light began shining inside. He stared straight at it, the light reflecting off of his eyes as he squinted to try to see who was there, but his vision was starting to blur.

* * *

“Hey! There’s someone in here!” a firefighter shouted in Japanese as his light continued to shine in Changmin’s face. He began stepping over the debris and sparking wires to make his way over to the young Dong Bang Shin Ki member as two of his partners came into the vehicle. When he came up on him, he crouched down and put his hand on Changmin’s shoulder; he glanced down to the body by him and shook his head before looking into Changmin’s face. “Are you okay to walk?” he asked, but the Korean male’s brain was not processing the Japanese and he just stared back to the man with a blank look, his eyes slowly blinking. “Sir?” he asked again, but Changmin’s strength had finally parted with him and he shut his eyes, facing his head towards the bottom of the car as he shook his head ‘no’ before looking back to Jaejoong. The firefighter looked behind him as his allies came up and he motioned with his flashlight towards the back.

“Is there anyone else?” one of them asked as they looked around as the other walked up to Changmin’s side.

The first man shook his head. “Here,” he said, motioning towards Changmin. “He can’t walk. Can you help me get him out of here?” he said, looking to his partner that was standing closest to him. He nodded as the other tapped Changmin’s shoulder. “Sir, we’re going to get you out of here, all right?” he started as he grabbed Changmin’s arm and looped it around his shoulders.

Changmin looked back to Jaejoong and, voice bland, trailed out, “Hyung….”

“Do you speak Japanese? Can you understand me?” the firefighter said, but did not receive a response from the other. He shook his head and looked to his partner, giving the notion that the person they were trying to get out of the tunnel was illiterate to their language. “Bear with me, sir,” he said as he started to stand, lifting Changmin off of the floor of the car. With the pain in his leg and shoulder, Changmin could not help but yell out as he was pulled to his feet.

“Careful!” his partner said as he had his hand on Changmin’s back, trying to support him.

“I have him, don’t worry.”

Once they were standing, the other looked at Changmin’s leg. “He’s not getting anywhere on that,” he spoke, getting the other to look down. “We’re going to have to carry him out of here. Support him,” he said as he went to the front of Changmin and bent down, putting his forearm right above the bend of the young member’s knees. “Got him?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. On the count of three, then.” The other nodded in agreement. “One – two – three!” As he lifted Changmin’s legs up, his partner supported the other’s upper body and, as the man stood, he shifted to where he was now carrying the member cradle-style. With the pressure on his leg from where it was being pressed against by the firefighter, Changmin released another shout, clamping his eyes shut. “All right, let’s get out of here!” he said as he turned and started to leave the car, careful to step over the debris and sparking wires.

As the three men stepped out of the car out into the tunnel, which was filled with pieces of the train and support beams, two of them began heading to leave the tunnel, passing by other firefighters as the other stayed back to continue aiding in sifting through the wreckage for more survivors.

* * *

“Out of the one hundred and six passengers, only eight managed to survive. Investigators have determined that the fault of the train was the track switch – it had not shut, causing the wheels of the train to become derailed when it hit the split.”

All live feeds throughout Japan were reporting the same thing over and over well into the evening hours. Changmin sat up in a hospital bed with his head and leg bandaged and his injured arm in a sling. When he had hit the pole, it managed to dislocate his shoulder, but with all the shifting he had done in the train while unconscious, it seemed when he had hit something else, it was hard enough to pop it back into place. The pain radiated from his shoulder down to his forearm, giving it limited mobility. His left leg had suffered severe nerve damage, which was why he was unable to move it, but the doctors had told him the feeling would return in a few days. His other leg would take longer to heal; but despite all of the injuries, he was lucky to just be alive. At least that was what everyone kept telling him; he thought differently in his mind.

All he could even think about was the carnage he had witnessed: The one female’s body being sucked out of the window and her blood splattering everywhere; the other female whose body had been torn in half and her blank stare staring back at him; the man’s body crushed under a fallen beam. But what had truly stuck with him was Jaejoong – seeing his best friend’s body with a serrated light fixture shoved through his chest and his eyes staring blankly up.

He kept wondering how much, if any, did Jaejoong suffer before it happened? Was he still alive when he was impaled? If so, for how long? And why did it have to be Jaejoong? Why could it not have been Changmin himself? Why was he chosen to keep living now with this horrific nightmare that would haunt him forever? He should have died alongside the others – what made him so special?

Or cursed?

He allowed his eyes to drift towards the doorway of the hospital room to see the figures of the other Dong Bang Shin Ki members talking to a doctor or nurse. He could not tell, and for that matter, he did not even care. He pressed his back against the bed, wishing he could just go to sleep and wake up to find everything that happened was only a dream. Even so, he could not even sleep. The doctors had to make sure he stayed awake because of the concussion that he received from hitting his head. But just because he was awake did not mean he had to talk. The others had tried to talk to him – to tell him everything was okay and that he was going to be fine – but he did not even respond to them. The last thing he wanted was to talk to people. He just wanted to be alone like Jaejoong was when….

He shut his eyes to think.

* * *

The nurse walked away from the other three members and they stared back into Changmin’s room.

“They’re coming in to see him, but no one’s sure when their flight will get here,” Yoochun spoke, referring to Changmin’s siblings. His voice was flat and his expression was hollow – all of their expressions were. It was still sinking in that their oldest member was gone and it felt like nothing was real; as though they were all walking in a haze. He bit his bottom lip as it started to shake and his eyes started to sting and tear up. He shook his head as he tore his gaze away from the youngest member. “This can’t be real….” His breath hitched in his throat as tears slipped down his face. He went to the wall next to the door to be out of view of the youngest and pressed his back against the wall as he slid down it, pressing his head against it with eyes shut. “It just can’t be….”

“Come on, Yoochun,” Junsu said in a false optimistic voice, his eyebrows furrowed upwards and a strange smile forced on his face. “We have to be strong, right? For Changmin.” His own words fell artificial as water fell down his face and he wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve. “We can’t let him see us cry…,” he trailed off, breath hitching as he tried to inhale.

Yunho was staring with a blank expression towards the floor tiles; his eyes were red as well. He had been so crude to Jaejoong for months, never once did the thought occur that hurtful words would be the last thing he would ever say to him. The oldest had begun to think that their leader was starting to hate him; but that was never true. He just did not know how to act around him anymore. There had been so much tension between them and he wanted to stop fighting with him, but with everything that was going on, he was stressed and when he and Jaejoong had got into arguments, it was a way he was taking out his frustrations. Jaejoong never was one to make Yunho upset by constantly disagreeing with him, so most of the arguments ended with either Yunho leaving or Jaejoong saying that Yunho was right.

Yunho inhaled deeply, heaving his chest as he looked at the two members closest to him. “Hey, now, guys. Don – Don’t cry, okay? Changmin needs us to be strong for him right now.” It pained him to speak words that contradicted his own want to cry with them, but someone needed to be strong for them when they themselves could not. He could feel the weight in his chest become heavier. More than anything he wanted to be with them in their tears, but he could not let himself. He looked into Changmin’s room. “And I think he’s falling asleep,” he said, glanced back to the others. “We can’t let him, you know? Come on.” He turned to walk into the youngest member’s room. The other two collected themselves as best they could and followed after him to stand near Changmin’s bed.

“Changmin, you can’t go to sleep,” Yunho said as he lightly tapped Changmin on the shoulder. The other’s eyes slowly opened to stare back at him before looking down at the bed sheets. Yunho lifted his hand and ran it through Changmin’s hair. “Everything’s going to be okay, Changmin. I promise.”

Changmin’s ears hung on the words ‘I promise’. That was the last thing he and Jaejoong spoke about: Promises. Promises that would never come through. Promises that fell on deaf ears. The only thing that mattered was now worthless; so how could any of them know what it meant? They meant nothing and never came out to be true. But hearing the words from Yunho’s mouth, Changmin’s eyebrows went up and he began choking on cries that escaped his throat. He brought up his uninjured hand to rub at his eyes. The others stood around, embracing him.

As the four members stood in the hospital room closely embraced, the full realization that their family was broken sunk in and none of them knew how they would manage to keep going…how any of them could do what everyone, including themselves, always said: _Keep the Faith_.


End file.
